#cow punchers

[gameraboy2]

Cow Punchers by Ernest "Darcy" Chiriacka, 1978

[browsethestacks]

5 Random Comics

[mudwerks]

Cow Puncher Comics #4 (Avon, 1948)

Al Ulmer cover and art. Al Hollingsworth text illustrations. Fred Kida art.

[bloodybosom]

[cccovers]

Cow Puncher Comics #3 (1947) cover by Allen Ulmer.

[chapuyes]

U ever wonder what the cowboy is doing in Bram Stoker’s Dracula? PLEASE read this article, I’ll even post the thesis so u can skim it & gnaw on the idea and maybe read the whole thing.

“This article argues both that Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show were important inspirations for Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and that, in the Wild West show, as in Dracula, the frontiers of racial encounter were invested with the possibility of degeneration and the necessity of race war. Pairing show and novel in this way, we begin to see how late nineteenth-century, progressive frontier myth and the literature of gothic horror represented homologous fictional worlds, divergent but sprung from common origins on mythic race frontiers.”

[butchyena]

tom and jerry howling about my back right now

[howlingday]

And here, we find a typical Texas cow puncher...

Wait a minute... This isn't right...

Yang: OOOOOH~! So you're wondering, too~!

[thefandomlesbian]

"Have yu' studied much about marriage?" he now inquired. His serious eyes met mine as he lay stretched along the ground.

"Not much," I said; "not very much."

"Let's swim," he said. "They have changed their minds."

Forthwith we shook off our boots and dropped our few clothes, and heedless of what fish we might now drive away, we went into the cool, slow, deep breadth of backwater which the bend makes just there. As he came up near me, shaking his head of black hair, the cow-puncher was smiling a little.

"Not that any number of baths," he remarked, "would conceal a man's objectionableness from an antelope—not even a she-one."

We dried before the fire, without haste. To need no clothes is better than purple and fine linen. Then he tossed the flap- jacks, and I served the trout, and after this we lay on our backs upon a buffalo-hide to smoke and watch the Tetons grow more solemn, as the large stars opened out over the sky.

"I don't care if I never go home," said I.

—"Hank's Woman," Owen Wister, 1891

Reflections on homoplatonic companionship among cowboys in the American West from A Queer History of the United States

[t-umblr-plays-loathing]

Asleep on the Your Family Farm farm, Tumblr McLoathing dreams of greatness. They dream of... choosing a character class!

Cow Punchers solve their problems with their fists, whether it's shaking them at a disagreeable feller in a disreputable saloon or using them to punch a slightly more disagreeable feller in a slightly less reputable saloon.

Magic and cooking are inextricably intertwined in Loathing and the Beanslinger is the mystical master of both.

Snake Oilers rely on their moxie and chutzpah to tame snakes, their fearlessness to extract potent oils from those snakes, and their cleverness to manufacture and sell potions made from those oils.

[i-am-very-heck]

hey look at these guys i drew on a doodle page from sometime last year i think

a snake oiler, a cow puncher, and a beanslinger :)

[gameraboy2]

Cow Puncher Comics #6 (1949), cover by Walter Johnson

[browsethestacks]

Cow Puncher (1947-1949)

[pikawarrior]

Welcome back to reaper talks bitches, i just finished my first playthrough of Shadows Over Loathing and have already started on my second and

Oh.

My.

Gods.

I fucking love this game. I mean its made by the people who made of my favorite games ever, West of Loathing so yeah im gonna enjoy it.

But this, this is new, this limits me in sooo many different ways but also opens up the game in ways i couldnt have imagined

[Alot of spoiler filled ramblings of a mad man slightly broken by a weird time/dimension loop that are only vaguely understandable under the cut]

Okay first off, not picking you class right at the very very start is great weirdly enough, atleast for me.

It gave me time to see the world through the basic unfiltered lens of someone who has an idea whats to come cuz of me playing the previous game but also no clue as the game hasnt given me any story yet.

Literally, it starts off with you having a copy of LOOK magazine on your face. You also get to really choose your look or well hair situation mainly, you're a stick person hair and accessories are all you got and its early game soooo

But anygays, it doesnt give you story till thr bus ride and even then you dont know your class or if there will even be classes!

I choose pigskinner or whatever my head is running at a million miles per hour rn cuz this hyperfixation is really new and free so double the speed of thoughts

And yeah i could have tried something new especially since 2 out of my 3 wol saves were that game's pigskinner class (cow puncher(?)) But come on, i like my familiar class also i suck as magic/effect heavy builds outside of my spamming of stuff like bleed or on fire

But anygays, the uncursing stuff is super fun tho pretty confusing. Thankfully you cant mess them up to my knowledge, they really test you puzzle skilss and you remembering that most things in this game are interactable (very very important)

Also omg i love any chance to piss a narrator and there are some great ones, the main ones that i can remember rn is the one about you working at all these different places and even being employee of the month despite you either being super young or not born at that time. And the one about you digging wet globs of hair out of sinks, mainly at frat houses. Gross i know, but i fucking dug through every single spittoon in wol, nothing can stop me anymore

The narrator def regrets following this dumbass (me) around but they cant leave so HA

But back to the uncursing, the sickle curse was actually super scary. Like that scarecrow was after ME, not the person i was currently in the body of, no he was after ME, my character also nick come on buddy you dont take loans/favors from The Shadows, thats like rule #265, your ass deserved a lawnmowing.

Also wtf i got sent the lawnmower i made with a note that said "see you in 66 years" or something like that. Like HELLO???? WHICH BITCH GOT MY ADDRESS AND WHO WANTS A PIECE OF ME AND MY LAWNMOWER

Seriously the sickle curse was hands down the scariest part of a game ive played in years and ive somewhat play resident evil 7

Also gods i love the to do list, don't get me wrong i loved asking my companions for reminders but this is super convenient and go for when my companion cant you know, accompany me somewhere

Plus being able see everything together and whats a main quest vs a side quest helps. And making my own notes in game helps since i still havent gotta a notebook for my gaming notes yet

Also the whole thing with the mob was great, 10/10 i love being chaotic and getting paid the big bucks for it. Seriously its worth it and theres even some more pacifist options in those quest lines to. Im very much a nice person to my core despite my nature darkness and chaos, so being able to handle things nicely or well with limited blood shed is nice. Also helps with you, like me, tend to avoid battles you dont gotta fight. Its also a nice puzzle sometimes cuz i cant just shove like 9 different thing down my throat and kick ass. Its one potion and one food at a time.

The combat is definitely different but more in a "its harder to be able to wipe everyone out in seconds" then a "heres a whole new system to learn good luck"

In wol its stupidly easy atleast for me to become a lesser god and wipe out half the map basically even during early game. Tho thats mainly cuz of my past experience and cuz i was raised really good and weirdly so my skills work with this-

But in sol the fights are actually pretty tough, i found myself really rationing my items out even in late game but also heavily relying on them and effects

Which btw go fucking on items and stuff that cause effects like bleed and on fire, trust me its actually kinda necessary

Also the last(?) fight (and the optional golem fight) are like stupidly hard even with all tbr help (finale(?)) While the golem is apparently a push over yet also god number two idk im working on it, apparently they didnt play test it and honestly it kinda shows (neutral)

ALSP WTF IS THAT BITCH AT THE FUNAL LIKE HOKY HELL DO NOT BE AFIARD MY ASS THAT A BIBLICALLY ACCURATE ANGEL WITHOUT WINGS RIGHT THERE AND ITS ABOUT TO SEND ME TO HELL PERSONALLY

Also i fucking lost, i can go back but i decided to learn from my mistakes by starting fresh instead of fixing them after they've already been made

AND im gonna help more people, im gonna save those two kids from that monster that haunts their family, im gonna help rufus find my past/other self from the first game, IM GONNA HELP EVERYONE I CAN ESPECIALLY THE ONES I FAILED BEFORE

Reaps now signing off to work on MEP parts see yall in like another 6 months

[go-fuck-a-dead-protagonist]

The Stickmin Run: a loose ruleset for Loathing roleplay

So I'm incredibly mentally ill about stick games (surprising nobody) and my favorite thing about both The Henry Stickmin Collection and the Loathing series is the palpable sense of chaos, absurdity, and nonsensical things that seem totally normal to everyone within the narrative. When I first got my hands on West of Loathing, I was knee deep in the HSC hyperfixation, and I saw a few connections between the games and ended up creating this ruleset for a very specific Loathing game roleplay exercise: playing a Loathing game as one of Henry's ancestors or distant relatives.

The idea is that you will use this made-up connection to push the concept that Henry's bloodline has literally Always Been Like This, and with this concept, take the most absurd route available to you within the confines of the game

Basic Rules

These rules qualify your run as a Stickmin Run.

Character must have the surname "Stickmin"

Must play the game in as silly a manner as possible (i.e. Using the book of silly walks in West, being employed everywhere in Shadows, checking the arachnophilia and phonia boxes in Shadows [as long as you can handle the spiders], etc)

Play your character with an incurable case of kleptomania - steal EVERYTHING.

Hoard everything - you cannot sell an item unless it has the blue Just sell it tag in the item description.

Take routes of nonviolence whenever possible - always default to trickery, deception, or other assorted nonviolent silliness in pursuit of your goals. Some fights are unavoidable, but most of them can be circumvented with good stats or requisite skills.

Never surrender - NEVER give up on anything. If the game lets you try again, ALWAYS try again. Failure is but a path to success. Never surrender to random encounters - if the only way out is fighting, treat that encounter like an unavoidable fight.

Optional Guidelines

Follow these suggestions for the full experience.

Choose moxie classes - Moxie classes get by on trickery, sabotage, and general absurdity, which is exactly what we're looking for. This isn't required - I've met many a worthy Stickmin cow puncher or cheese wizard - but for the full experience, play like a bard.

Become ungovernable - even when working with the government, Henry is tacitly anti- authority. You answer to no one but your friends. At most, you could be a hired hand (such as assisting the sheriff in Dirtwater) but no government can truly hold a Stickmin down.

Chaotic Good - Henry makes many bad decisions over the course of the multiverse, sure, but I don't think I'd ever describe him as an out-and-out villain. Sure, you cause chaos, but the fate of the world is at stake here! Help the hobos, avoid shadow taint, seal the El Vibrato portals, and send those Cows back to hell where they came from.

Don't half- ass it - alternatively, if you DO wanna be a villain, no Stickmin worth their salt has time to pussyfoot around. Lean ALL THE WAY IN. if you're gonna go the villainous route, go FULL TILT and take absolutely no prisoners. No middle sliders allowed.

Wiki is your friend - there are many ways to solve problems in the Loathing games, but our boy Henry usually only gets one. As such, feel no shame in using wikis and steam guides to their full extent. Look up every event you encounter to ensure that you always make the best decisions - oftentimes in the Loathing series, you don't get other chances.

Reject tradition - who says a Snake-Oiler's gotta use moxie weapons? Stickmins are at their best flying by the seats of their pants. Equip wildly unfitting clothing and weapons and see if you can force yourself to find some off-meta strategies! Be creative! If you're a real stat hound but still want a bit more unconventional silliness, collect weapons that don't match your class stat and then use items to convert them.

Kinda gay to have a life partner - run with one sidekick for the whole game and construct an elaborate and dramatic relationship between the two of you in the lore of your character.

And most importantly, have fun - fuck rules! Feel free to tweak any part of this post, I dunno, I'm not the boss of you. A true Stickmin is beholden to none other but themselves!

So yeah! That's the essence of the Stickmin Run. I hope you have fun with this little ruleset, and I encourage anyone who makes a Loathing character along these lines to drop me an ask and tell me all about them! I'd be absolutely chuffed to hear it.

[cccovers]

Cow Puncher Comics #7 (1949) cover by Jimmy Thompson.